Oil-gas industry: Fracking bans, if approved, would be costly for Colorado residents

Protesters hold a banner during a protest outside of the Momentive resin plant, Monday, July 8, 2013, in Morganton, N.C. Dozens of environmental activists blocked a chemical plant Monday to protest against the company's sale of products used in the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. (AP Photo/The News Herald, Mary Elizabeth Robertson)

Boulder’s fracking moratorium

A five-year moratorium on fracking in Boulder took a step toward the November ballot last week.

The Boulder City Council unanimously gave initial approval to a ballot measure that would ban fracking through 2018 unless, after June 2016, a two-thirds majority of the city council decides it should be lifted.

Some city council members said the moratorium should extend five years from the end of the one-year moratorium adopted by the council last month, rather than converting the one-year moratorium into a five-year one. That would extend the moratorium through 2019 unless the council signed off in 2017.

The city council will consider the date changes at a second reading of the ballot measure on a special meeting Aug. 5.

If the state Supreme Court ultimately rules against Longmont’s voter-approved fracking ban, the city council could simply not enforce Boulder’s moratorium, City Attorney Tom Carr said.

Erica Meltzer, Boulder Daily Camera

LOVELAND — Oil and gas officials say proposed bans or moratoriums on hydraulic fracturing could prove very costly for Colorado if municipalities take that action.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the technology in oil and gas drilling that involves injecting mixtures of water, sand and chemicals into deep formations under high pressure to free up trapped oil and gas deposits.

Almost all of the currents wells being drilled in Colorado involve horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, they say.

Fracking opponents have been pushing elected officials for the past two years to enact bans or moratoriums, mostly out of concern that groundwater is being contaminated. It's a movement that concerns the oil and gas industry since fracking is a key component in helping the U.S. become energy independent.

A ban on fracking is really a ban on drilling. If that occurs, the industry becomes static. That $2 billion the industry pays out, you can take that off the table.”

Recommended Stories For You

"It's a big deal," said Brad Miller, the general manager of regulatory affairs for Anadarko Petroleum, a panelist at an energy summit held July 16 at The Ranch in Loveland. "If there's a ban on fracking, then the Wattenberg (natural gas field) goes away. You will see the decline rapidly."

Miller pointed out the oil and gas industry pays about $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year in taxes and royalties to mineral rights owners in Colorado.

"That's significant," he added.

Matt Lepore, another panelist and the director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, agreed.

"A ban on fracking is really a ban on drilling," Lepore said. "If that occurs, the industry becomes static. That $2 billion the industry pays out, you can take that off the table."

Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer, who acted as the moderator for the panel discussion on oil and gas regulations, said fracking opponents are not well educated on hydraulic fracturing and are trying to frighten the public with misinformation.

"They are trying to scare the crap out of everybody with wrong facts … and making things up," Kirkmeyer said.

The county commissioner said the opponents' chief claim is groundwater is being contaminated by fracking operations.

"You know, that just isn't true," Kirkmeyer said.

Lepore said when citizens approach their local leaders and demand them to protect their health and safety, they usually are armed with misinformation and the inability to see the big picture.

"They fail to draw a connection between a ban on fracking and the cost of natural gas," said Lepore, noting the low cost of natural gas is helping to keep heating and cooling costs low in Colorado.

When fracking is banned, it means energy producing industries will switch from natural gas to coal to produce electricity and that, in turns, will mean higher electric rates, Lepore said.

To address the amount of misinformation being spread, the panel members said there are several education programs underway in communities and schools.

"We have to educate the youth and start there," Miller said. "We also have to educate the general public, as well. Both of these programs need to start now. The industry is starting that."

Kirkmeyer said although an effort is being made to educate the public about fracking and its myths, it's hard to drown out the detractors.

"The problem we have is that we have a group of people on the other side who don't care about the truth," she said.

Time to educate the public may be running short, Kirkmeyer noted.

"They (oil and gas officials) are going to have to grapple with the reality of a number of moratoriums on local ballots this year," she said.

Boulder’s fracking moratorium

A five-year moratorium on fracking in Boulder took a step toward the November ballot last week.

The Boulder City Council unanimously gave initial approval to a ballot measure that would ban fracking through 2018 unless, after June 2016, a two-thirds majority of the city council decides it should be lifted.

Some city council members said the moratorium should extend five years from the end of the one-year moratorium adopted by the council last month, rather than converting the one-year moratorium into a five-year one. That would extend the moratorium through 2019 unless the council signed off in 2017.

The city council will consider the date changes at a second reading of the ballot measure on a special meeting Aug. 5.

If the state Supreme Court ultimately rules against Longmont’s voter-approved fracking ban, the city council could simply not enforce Boulder’s moratorium, City Attorney Tom Carr said.